| Title |
Influences of pH on Heavy Metal Leaching in Water Supply Pipelines |
| Authors |
이정원(Lee, Jeongwon) ; 노유래(Noh, Yoorae) ; 박준홍(Park, Joonhong) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.12652/Ksce.2017.37.1.0073 |
| Keywords |
상수도관;금속용출;수돗물위생안전 Water supply pipeline;pH;Leaching of heavy metal;Sanitary safety in tap water |
| Abstract |
In Korea, previous certification of water supply infrastructure was mainly focused on economical and physical aspects. Recently, hygienic safety of water supply service has become a sensitive and important issue to our people for evaluating the water quality with growth of economy and education system. According on water quality in 497 Korean water supply facilities, pH values in the supplied water have ranged between 5.8-8.5. However, little is known about metal leachability at the pH conditions observed in the real water supply systems because a fixed pH condition (pH 7.0) has been used in the current standard method, 'Hygienic Safety Testing Method', in water supply. In this work, we examined the effects on heavy metal leachability with pH differences in the water supply pipes which are typically used in Korea. As a result, the amounts of metal leachability were tended to increase when pH levels were decreased. Especially at pH 5.8, Cu leachability from Cu pipes was found to exceed the public health standard level even after applying a normalization factor (NF) given by the current Korea standard method. The Cr and Cu leached from stainless steel pipes, Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn from Cu-based pipe fittings, and Zn from Zn-based pipe fittings were exceeded the Korean hygienic safety standards while, after applying the NF, concentrations of the leached metals were satisfied with the current Korean standard. The findings from this work provide implications on the needs of reforming the current hygienic safety standard methodology. |